In conversation with Ahdaf Soueif

Sydney Ideas is pleased to host an evening with Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif, in conversation with the University of Sydney’s Lucia Sorbera. Soueif will discuss Egyptian literature and role of women in the Arab Spring, will read from her body of works, and sign books after the event.

Soueif was born and brought up in Cairo. A successful novelist moving between London and Cairo, she returned to Cairo when Egyptian Revolution erupted on January 25th 2011 and, along with thousands of others, called Tahrir Square home for eighteen days. As the events in Egypt unfolded, she reported for The Guardian newspaper and her access to insider information played a key role in outsider understanding of the Arab Spring. Her published account of her participation in the revolution Cairo: My city, our revolution is a compelling blend of reporting and memoir as she not only chronicles the minutiae of a revolution but offers a lyrical portrait of the history of a city she, and many millions of other Cairenes, love fiercely and fought to protect.

Ahdaf Soueif is the author of the bestselling novel The Map of Love (shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999 and translated into 28 languages), as well as the well-loved In the Eye of the Sun and the collection of short stories, I Think of You. Soueif is also a political and cultural commentator and writes regularly for The Guardian in the UK and has a weekly column in al-Shorouk in Egypt. In 2007 Ms Soueif founded Engaged Events, a UK based charity. Its first project is the Palestine Festival of Literature which takes place in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and al-Khalil/Hebron.

Lucia Sorbera is a lecturer in Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Sydney. Her areas of research include the Arab novel and gender and culture in the Arab world.